First look from top floors of The Bow caps off a magnificent building (with video)

54th floor Sky Garden offers a unique streetscape

People sit on the 42 floor of the Bow building in Calgary on Tuesday May 7.

Photograph by: Tijana Martin
, Calgary Herald

It’s like the icing on the cake.

The 54th floor of The Bow, with its breathtaking Sky Garden, caps off what many have described as a magnificent building — one that was recently listed as one of the most dazzling corporate structures in the world.

“One of the design intents was to create a streetscape,” said Ken Hornby, vice-president of Encana Leasehold Limited Partnership at The Bow.

“One of the aspects of downtown living is noontime coffee breaks and the like. The tendency is to completely leave the building,” Hornby said during an exclusive tour this week for the Herald of the top floors of the 58-storey tower.

“What we have here, particularly when the weather isn’t as nice outside as it could be, you have a wonderful environment where people have the impression that they are actually outside.”

The Sky Garden floor features a state-of-the art 250-seat auditorium on the east side and a huge multi-purpose room with a mountain view on the west. The distance between the two — punctuated with panoramic views of the city, tons of natural light, soft seating and trees — is about one city block in length.

Plans for the tower were announced in October 2006. It was initially owned by Encana but later sold to H&R Real Estate Investment Trust. Energy giants Encana and Cenovus — with more than 4,000 employees between them — are the building’s main tenants.

Recently, The Bow, at Centre Street and 6th Avenue S.E., was named one of the world’s most spectacular corporate buildings.

The list of “dazzling” buildings was compiled by a jury of experts from Emporis, a German-based database on building and construction projects.

“We have a very wide space with panoramic views that again just draw people to this level as well as the other Sky Gardens,” said Hornby of the 54th floor. Sky Gardens are also located on the 24th and 42nd floors.

“Particularly in the first days of opening, we had a lot of people come in and just sample the views and sample the space and ... they just keep coming back.”

The 56th and 57th floors of the building are for mechanical use while the 58th floor is the roof.

“The idea is to create a sense of community, a meeting place. One that is welcoming and friendly, that inspires people if not draws people to it,” said Hornby of the Sky Gardens.

“You come into a very open and inviting area that has some wonderful design and architectural attributes ... There’s an ease of movement and an ease of use that immediately becomes apparent.”

There’s a common kitchen area on the 54th floor, soft seating and areas where people can find privacy.

The mountain-view room has a commercial food preparation area as well as a buffet eating area.

Dawn Lavigne, group lead in business development for Encana, has a north-facing office on the 55th floor of The Bow.

“The first time I came out of the elevators ... when you’re looking out from the 55th (floor) down to the 54th and up over that view of the mountains and the foothills, it was incredible, absolutely incredible,” Lavigne said.

“Every day I’m very thankful to be in such an amazing building. So I always make sure I take the time to stop. I’m an early riser. So I’m in the office about 6:30 ... But I always stop and take a deep breath and enjoy that view.”

Craig Reardon, vice-president of administration for Encana, said staff are enjoying their new office environment.

“It’s become a great place to work, a great place for them to come and gather and interact with their colleagues who have been separated in multiple buildings for quite a number of years,” he said.

Encana staff were moved from several downtown buildings into The Bow.

“People are getting reacquainted with each other and starting to have spontaneous meetings and that kind of thing that they weren’t able to have before. They’re really enjoying the amenities of the building.

“The biggest thing for us is to provide our staff with a very functional and well-designed place to get their work done. ... We think that will help us attract the best and brightest people here to be able to come and work in a great spot like this.”

The 55th floor has about 20 offices and six training rooms. It’s the last floor of employees in the building.

Encana’s senior management team is on 44th floor. One of the company’s working units is on the 55th.

Cenovus occupies floors three to 28 in the building, while Encana is in floors 29 to 55.

Maggie Schofield, executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, said The Bow signals the city’s coming of age.

“It is an iconic structure, no question,” she said. “It’s changed the skyline of Calgary. It’s a modern clean structure. ... It probably sets the stage for Calgary’s next 100 years of growth.”

Richard White, an urban design critic with Ground3 Landscape Architects, said The Bow marks a departure for the city.

“The diagonal exterior grid of the cross-bracing also creates a different visual texture from the repetitive grid pattern windows that is so prevalent in our past architecture. I love the entrance with its triangular glass canopies that aggressively knife-out into the plaza and gives it an edge at street level.

“At the same time it is not from the ‘weird, wild and wacky’ school of contemporary architecture. It’s much more of the contemporary glass minimalist school.

“I like the fact its design is linked to its sense of place,” said White, pointing to the bend in the Bow River as it flows through downtown.

“The biggest disappointment is the overall massing and flat rooftop. I wish it was 80 floors high with a smaller floor plate; this would make it more statuesque than stout — a criticism that is often made about Calgary’s architecture.”

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